Portable communication devices are used in various applications to provide a means for remote communication between two parties. Common communication devices of this kind are for instance cellular telephones, cordless phones, paging devices, walkie-talkies, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), etc. Such devices comprise an apparatus housing, in which an electronic circuit board is arranged. The circuit board is provided with circuitry necessary for performing the operational communication tasks of the device, e.g. CPU, memory modules and radio circuits (amplifiers, local oscillators, filters, modulators, mixers, etc). Furthermore, the circuit board is often provided with LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) or other devices for illuminating a keypad arranged in the housing.
Keypad-operated devices of the kind described above have to fulfill various requirements in order to provide a reliable communication service to the user of the device. Such requirements are for instance immunity to electrostatic discharge (ESD) as well as a sufficiently high degree of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). When the user touches the keypad, there is an apparent risk of an electrostatic discharge between the user's fingertip and conductive elements, e.g. the electronic circuit board inside the device, and hence a keypad-operated communication device must be provided with ESD-protective means. Furthermore, the device must be shielded in a way that prevents the active parts of the communication device from interfering electromagnetically with surrounding electronic equipment. Such shielding must also protect the device from electromagnetic influences or disturbances caused by such surrounding electronic equipment.
FIG. 2 discloses a previously known keypad arrangement for a cellular telephone. A keypad 30 is made from e.g. rubber and comprises a set of individual keys 32. Although not shown in the drawing each key 32 is labelled according to its dedicated purpose, for instance a digit "3" or a "*" sign. A domefoil 40 made from plastics or the like is interposed between the keypad 30 and an electronic circuit board 20 arranged inside the telephone housing. The domefoil 40 is provided with a plurality of tactile domes 42, each of which is given a convex shape protruding or bulging from the domefoil 40. One respective dome 42 is arranged beneath one respective key 32 in the keypad 30.
The circuit board 20 is given a purely schematical appearance in FIG. 2. The circuit board 20 comprises various electronic circuitry, such as radio transmitter/receiver circuits, amplifiers, filters, buffers, oscillators, mixers, one or several micro-processors, memory modules, etc., none of which are indicated in FIG. 2. Furthermore, the circuit board 20 is provided with a set of contact points 22, a respective one of which being arranged in vertical alignment with a respective pair of key 32 and dome 42.
The functional operation of the keypad 30 is as follows. When a key 32 is depressed by a user, the back of the key will exert a force upon the underlying tactile dome 42. The dome 42 will not be able to resist the force exerted by the key 32 but will collapse inwardly/downwardly and reach contact with the underlying contact point 22. For this purpose the rear side of each dome 42 is made electrically conductive, for instance by providing each dome with a conductive layer, such as a silver or carbon compound. The collapsing dome establishes electric contact between a contact pair at the contact point 22, the details of which are omitted in the drawing, since they are believed to be well-known per se to a man skilled in the art. The electric connection so established is immediately detected by a controller comprised on the circuit board.
Furthermore, the circuit board 20 is provided with illuminating means 24 realized as LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), the purpose of which is to illuminate the keys 32 through respective openings 44 in the domefoil 40. In FIG. 2 one illuminating means 24 is arranged to illuminate four keys 32 surrounding the opening 44. In addition to these openings the domefoil 40 is provided with various holes, openings or recesses 46, 48, 49 for various electronic components or mounting means arranged on the circuit board 20.
In the prior art arrangement according to FIG. 2 the rubber-based keypad sheet 32 serves as an ESD-protective means. Furthermore, the housing 12 shown in FIG. 1 is provided on the inside thereof with a thin metallized layer functioning as a protection or a shielding against electromagnetic interference between the telephone 10 and surrounding electronic equipment. Although providing a sufficient protection against ESD as well as electromagnetic interference, the prior art arrangement according to FIG. 2 is disadvantageous when it comes to cost considerations. Both the keypad rubber sheet 30 and the metallized layer inside the housing 10 and a non-negligable price penalty to the total cost for manufacturing the telephone 10.